The Gate of Amroth
by Golden Days
Summary: Those on Middle-Earth hurry about, never stopping to think of those above them, those never seen. Perhaps they should. For when an age old spirit awakens, determined to bring Middle-Earth into ruin, few know of his past. And as for those that do, can they
1. Ever Wandering

There was a soft rusling among the trees, and the faint sound of footsteps, before an elf could be   
spotted making his was out of Mirkwood. The elf paused for a moment, looked around, and walked slowly   
towards a small overhanging in the side of a nearby cliff. Here he paused again, gazing back at the   
forest for a moment, and collapsed onto the groud.  
  
Nobody saw him except for a few small birds, flying overhead, and a squirrl sitting in a tree on the   
edge of the forest. Still, there was not much to see. A tall elf, weaponless, with torn clothing and   
blood running down his legs and arms, and covering his face. He carried only a small piece of   
parchment, clasped tightly in his shaking hand.  
  
There was silence, as the elf sat under the cliff, breathing heavily, his heart pounding in his ears.   
He waited, waited for anything, anyone, to come to him. But nobody came. He lifted his head to the sky   
and gazed at the ever-darkening sky. But nobody came. He stood up warily, flung his arms out, and   
shouted in dispair. Still, nobody came.  
  
The elf sat down again, fingering the parchment he held. He triend to think of something, anything, to   
take his mind off the pain he was in. The parchment he held, the sky above him, the birds and the   
animals, the trees and the flowers.   
  
Nothing worked.  
  
He was trapped in his pain, a prisoner inside himself. He could not escape the pain, no matter how he   
tried. And now, sitting here, thinking, he wondered vaugely if this was how an animal felt while caught   
in a trap. Nothing to do but suffer. Unable to feel any joy. Just waiting. Waiting for death, the only   
thing that could free them.  
  
The only thing he could focus on was the pain. It was everywhere, his arms, his legs, his head, his   
chest. It was to much to bear. And yet, he could not escape it. He could not be free of his pain. His   
bondy would not let his die, would not let him leave.  
  
He was trapped.  
  
There was nobody with, him nobody to tell his sorrows to. He was alone. He would die alone, abandoned,   
painfully. His body would never be found. The earth would claim him, but his soul would not be freed.   
He would wander, wander forever, lost.  
  
But he could think no longer. If death would not claim him, he would turn to the only other thing that   
could. For a littlw while at least.  
  
Sleep.  
  
Yes, he remembered sleep. It was a pleasant feeling, really. It felt nice to sleep. But sleeping was   
forever, never resting, never sleeping. But when they finally want so desperately to sleep, they find   
that they cannot. You do not enjoy going to sleep, yet, when you are woken against your will, you want   
nothing more then to slip back into the world of dreams, just for a moment longer.  
  
Indeed, sleep was a funny thing. But if it could free him from the pain, if only for a moment, then he   
would willingly let it overcome him. Oh, how he wanted sleep to come to him!  
  
And, thinking such thoughts, the elf sat down against the cliff, as comfortably as possible in his   
present situation, and sighed deeply. Maybe he would feel well enough to walk a little farther when he   
awoke. Or maybe not. But it was not time to think of such things.  
  
Without even the strenghth to keep his eyes open, the eolf slipped into a fitfully sleep. Horrible, and   
yet, so very precious, at the same time, for it was all that was keeping him alive.  
  
The sun sank below the horizon, and the darkness quickly dashed about, all of them searching for a   
small corner that, perhaps, one of his fellows had missed. The birds and the squirrl that had observed   
the elf earlier were now alseep, a quite, peaceful sleep, unlike the elf sleeping below them.  
  
No, Legolas Greenleaf did not sleep well that night. 


	2. The Note

As the sun began it's daily climb up inot the sky, Legolas awoke. He had been so comfortable, lying   
there under the cliff, sleeping the night away. But sleep had fled with the morning sun, and pain came   
to take it's place. Slowly, wearily, he rose.   
  
Ever part of him hurt. From the large, gaping cut on this forehead, to the very bottoms of his worn and   
bloody feet. Not to mention everything in between. Yes, everything hurt, and quite badly at that.  
  
Without the willpower to walk even a few steps, he turned his head, ever so slowly, one way, and then   
the other. No food, no friends, no life. Nothing. Just him, alone, half-dead, under the rock.  
  
He sat down again. Collapsed, really, but this was no time to be picky. He sat down and turned over a   
small rock next to him. Yes, there was the note, thank Elbereth. He still had it. He picked it up, and   
carefully unfolded it. Scanning the torn and bedraggled piece of parchment, he triend to make sense of   
the words that were still readable.  
  
~Charzen~  
  
Charzen? Was that who the note was supposed to be delivered to? He couldn't quite remember. Who was   
Charzen? And where did he live? Sighing, Legolas turned back to the note.  
  
~...know you...ou...der...and...find anyth...g...omed...Am...th ha...ned...gate is g...plea...elp~  
  
And what was that all supposed to mean? It had been so long...So long since he had last read it. If   
only he could remember...But it was so hard to think!  
  
~Tr...he..ath..s...ixt...r...only ho...fo...Midd...rth~  
  
Middle-Earth. He could figure out that much. Something about Middle-Earth...  
  
~I wil...at...edho...Pas...if yo...nee...to con...ct...e...pleas...urry...~  
  
Please hurry! Yes, yes, he could read that bit too. That must be what it said...  
  
~Ni...h~  
  
Nieah. He remembered Nieah. She had given him the note. He could almost remember, almost...  
  
~*~  
"Legolas, I need you to take this note to Charzen. It's very urgent. You must hurry. The gate, the gate   
is gone...Legolas, please!"  
~*~  
  
Yes! That was Nieah. A tall, dark-haired elf, with hazel eyes, and a deep voice. That was Nieah. And   
she had told him to take the note, this note, to Charzen. But where was Charzen? Had Nieah expected him   
to search all of Middle-Earth to find one person?  
  
Charzen.  
  
Sighing in frustration, Legolas sat down to think.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
(A/N) Anyone want to guess at what the note says? Here's the whole thing all together:  
  
~Charzen,~  
  
~...know you...ou...der...and...find anyth...g...omed...Am...th ha...ned...gate is g...plea...elp...Tr...  
he..ath..s...ixt...r...only ho...fo...Midd...rth...I wil...at...edho...Pas...if yo...nee...to con...ct  
...e...pleas...urry...~  
  
  
~Ni...h~ 


	3. Spiritanu

Charzen paced restlessly around his small bedroom. The sun peeked in at him from a curtained windown, and the birds spoke softly, but Charzen did not notice them. His entire being was taken up on one thought.  
  
Where was Nieah?  
  
She had promised, almost a month ago, to bring him in ingredients he needed to create a Spiranu. It should have only been a few days trip, yet a whole moths had gone by. Where was she?  
  
Growling in frustration, he kicked the wall under the window with a heavily booted foot. Once. Twice. Three times, he kicked the wall, as though demanding it to tell him where Nieah was, why she wasn't in that very room.  
  
The wall did not answer, nor give any sign that it had heard his inward demands, and this did nothing to improve Charzen's mood. He needed her right now!  
  
The Anu was getting restless. It would not stay much longer. It did not enjoy it's stay in the small wooden box it had been put into. If Charzen could not give him a more suitable resting place, it would find someone who could.  
  
And Charzen knew this, and he cursed whatever kept Nieah from coming to him. Taking a few deep breaths, and attemting to calm himself, Charzen turned swiftly and strode over the the wooden box that sat quietly on the table it had been placed upon. Charzen sighed in relief.   
  
If nothing else was going to go right today, at least the Anu wasn't protesting anymore. Charzen had been quite worried last evening, when the Anu had awoken and demanded to be let out.  
  
Closing his eyes for a moment, Charzen tried with all his might to think where, in all of Middle-Earth, Nieah could be. Had he told her to come at the wrong time? No, that coulnd't be it. He was sure he had instructed her to come at the appropriate time. But maybe she had not heard him correctly?  
  
Charzen, with a soft, dry laugh, dismissed this thought entirely. Nieah would NEVER have mistaken the date. She was always very, very, VERY prompt, and overly-orginized. No, something must have happend to her. But what? He did not know.  
  
Opening his eyes again, Charzen walked over the the table and placed one hand on the lid of the box. Imeadiately, the Anu sensed him, and sent him an angry mental message.  
  
~"Want out."~  
  
Charzen resisted the urge to roll his eyes skyward. "You cannot come out, little one. The time is note right. Nieah will be here soon."  
  
~"Who?"~  
  
"Nieah, small spirit. She is bringing the ingredients to enable me to construct your body."  
  
The Anu did not speak for a moment.  
  
~"Body...?"~ it questioned hesitantly.  
  
"Yes, your body, spiritling," Charzen told it, adding a little bit more enthusiasim then nessisary.  
  
"You would like to have a body, would you not? One of your own?"  
  
~"Yes."~  
  
The Anu spoke firmly.  
  
~"Body. Now?"~  
  
Charzen sighed in dispair.  
  
"Not now. But soon. When Nieah arrives, you shall have you body, small one."  
  
~"I wait. Wait for Nieah come. Then body."~  
  
Charzen agreed heartily.  
  
"Yes, yes, then a body. Now sleep, little one, sleep, and gain strength."  
  
He stood for a moment, with his hand still on the box lid, before turning and walking swiftly out of the room. The Anu sensed him go, as it shrunk itself into a comfortable resting postition. Yes, it would wait for Nieah.   
  
Before it fled the human world, it allowed one more thought to persist, though nobody was there to hear.  
  
~"But I will not wait long..."~ 


	4. The Dog

Legolas slept late that morning. The elf, usually up with the sun, was too exhasted to do anything more then breath. It took too much energy to do anything else, so why bother trying? So tired, so very tired...  
  
So it turned out to be nearing noon when Legolas finally, regretfully, forced himself into a sitting position and turned two bleary eyes skyward. The sun, in a manner of rebuke for his laziness, shot her furiously bright rays into his eyes, and Legolas turned away quickly.  
  
Groaning softly, for he was very stiff from lack of movement, he firmly told himself that he was getting up, right then and there. His body protested strongly, begging him to return to the world of dreams, but Legolas stay firm. He lifted himself up, brushed his hair out of his face, and...  
  
Oh wait. He was still sitting on the ground.  
  
Mumbling half-hearted insults and forcing his eyes to stay open, he tried again. Place hands on groud. Push upward. Put feet under body. Stand up. Brush hair away from face. But, sadly, he found himself, once again, to be sitting on the group in the exact same position as before.  
  
Alright, no big deal, just try again.  
  
Place hands on groud. Push upward. Put feet under...  
  
~*~  
  
After almost half an hour of trying to force himself upward, Legolas found himself in a standing position, leaning against the cliff, with his stomach protesting from lack of food.  
  
Slowly, willing himself to stay up, he took a hesitant step forward. Then another. And another. After what seemed like hours, he was quite suprised to find himself standing next to a large dog.  
  
Blinking, he and the creature gazed at each other for a moment, until the dog breathed out loudly and disapeared intothe bushes. Legolas blinked again, then sat down. Actually, he collapsed imeadiatly into a very ungraceful heap, but for all practical purposes, he sat down.  
  
He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to locate the direction the dog was heading in, but he could no longer hear him. Either he was now a long ways away, or Legolas was to weak to hear him.  
  
Probably the latter, he thought to himself grimly.  
  
He tried, once again, to track the dog's progress, but the only thing that accomplished was him falling asleep again.  
  
When he opened his eyes again, he was in a completely different place...  
  
(A/N-I have no idea if there were dogs in Tolkien's world. I know that cats were mentioned a few times, so I'm assuming there were also dogs. If it says anything about a dog in one of the books, I would be very glad if you could point it out to me. If not, use some imagination.) 


	5. Awakening

Ever so slowly, Legolas summoned the energy to move. He tried to pry his eyes open a time or two, but to no avail, so he turned to pleading with his finger to wiggle up and down one what felt like a very nice bedspread.  
  
No, that didn't work either.  
  
"Mouth," he thought deperately, "Please open. Leg, please twitch. Eyes, wouldn't you be so kind as to open up a little? Just the tiniest bit?"  
  
Nothing happened.  
  
"Body," he pleaded, "Please do SOMETHING."  
  
Nope. OK, no movement. Maybe he could make some sort of noise?  
  
Legolas struggled with himself for a moment. His mouth was very dry and scratchy, and this made his task even more difficult.  
  
He tried everything he could think of. Grunting, snorting, moaning, clicking, making stange, undecipherable noises in the back of his mouth, but to no avail.  
  
Alright, check noises. Check movement. Now what?  
  
He pondered this for a moment, but never came to a conclusion, for just then somebody opened the door and walked inside the room.  
  
"Are you awake?" a soft voice asked him.  
  
Great. Wonderful. Here was someone asking if he was awake, and him not being able to prove anything more then the fact that he was alive. If only he had the energy to jump for joy...  
  
"Elf?" the voice persisted. "Are you awake."  
  
"Yes."  
  
Wait. Had he said that out loud?   
  
OK, so next time he was too tired to move, speak, or do anything more then breathe, all he would have to do is wait for someone to approach him and ask him if he was awake. Not that he was ever going to get into a situation like this every again.  
  
"You are?" the voice asked, in an excited tone.  
  
"Yes," Legolas repeated wearily.  
  
"Wonderful! Are you feeling well?"  
  
"I've been better," he complained.  
  
The voice giggled, and Legolas come to the conclusion that the voice belonged to a woman. Men do not giggle. It's against their nature.  
  
"Well, I'm sure you'll be alright soon. Stay right here, I'll go and get my uncle."  
  
"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere," Legolas muttered.   
  
Another giggle, and the sound of a door being closed. The woman, whoever she was, had gone to fetch her uncle, whoever he was.  
  
Now if only he could open his eyes... 


End file.
